Speech #620314677

In the first place. I wish to congratulate the President upon his wise and humane act in vetoing this harsh and unreasonable measure. however. he was only following the example set him by a Democratic President. when. on March 2. 1897. Grover Cleveland vetoed a similar measure. stating in his message thatA radical departure from Our national policy relating to Immigration is here presented. Heretofore we have welcomed all who came to us from other lands except those whosd moral or physical condition or history threatened danger to our national welfare and safety. Relying upon the jealous watchfulness of our people to prevent injury to our political and social fabric. we have encouraged those coming from foreign countries to cast their lot with us and join in the development of our vast domain. securing in return a share in the blessings of American citizenship. . A centurys stupendous growth. largely due to the assimilation and thrift of mtillions of sturdy and patriotic adopted citizens. attests the success Of this generous and freehanded policy. which. while guarding the peoples interests. exacts from our immigrants only physical and moral soundness and a willingness and ability to work. It Is said. however. that the quality of recent Immigration is undesirable. The time is quite within recent memory when the same thing was said of immigrants who. with their descendants. are now numbered amiong our best citizens. As bearing out the last portion of President Clevelands message relative to the quality of the immigration I desire to call your attention to some extracts from the report of the Immigration Commission. which has investigated the immigration problem aid which commission certainly cani not he charged with being overfriendly to the cause of immigration. On page 16 they sayThe new immigration has for the most part been carefully regulated so far as health and likelihood of pauperism are concerned. and. although drawn froth classes low in the economic scale. the new immigrants as a rule are the strongest. the most enterprising. and the bcst of their class. And again. on page 26. we find these words: The effective administration of the present immigration law insures the admission to the United States of physically healthy immigrants. so that there is no adequate cause for concern in this regard. On page 27 appears the following statement: In the earlier days of unregulated immigration pauperism among newly admitted immigrants was one of the most serious phases of tile problem. * * * At the present time. however. pauperism among newly admitted immigrants is relatively at a minimum. owing to the fact that the present immigration law provides for the admission only of the ablebodied. or dependents whose support by relatives is assured. In speaking of the congestion of immigrants in the large cities we find the report contains the following: On the whole. however. the average conditions were found materially better than had been anticipated. In many Instances. too. where deplorable conditions were found they were due in part. at any rate. to circumstances over which the inhabitants have little direct control. such as a poor water supply or unsanitary drainagematters that should be attended to by the city authorities.